Archive for December, 2007
Murder in Nebraska and Lasting Fame
December 6th, 2007
> The deeply disturbed 19-year-old gunman who sought “fame” by going on a shooting rampage at a Nebraska mall, killing 8 and wounding 5 others substantially achieved his goal. In the world of “15 minutes of fame” in which we live, CNN and other media outlets have, since the rampage occurred, more than granted him his wish by headlining his photo and identifying him by name for over 24 hours now…setting yet another example for yet another disturbed person to emulate.
Fast food and fast fame, it appears, make for a diseased society. Which is what has me thinking about volunteerism and service to others.
A recent poll by South Jersey Magazine found Pennsylvania and New Jersey 32 and 33 out of 50 states in the time their citizens spend volunteering. Now, because I live in New Jersey, I was naturally less than proud of the statistical finding. But it wasn’t the ranking that got my attention, it was the apparent overall belief of those polled that giving money is the same as, and an acceptable substitute for, giving time.
No, it’s not…although this belief does match up with the often-voiced Conservative cry that we are “the most charitable nation in the world” based upon dollars given.
The problems with this assumption and conclusion are two-fold. 1) There is so much corruption, or at least monumental waste, within almost every large organization that what is given is but a fraction of what actually winds up with the intended recipient or doing any real good. 2) While it is money that purchases food and supplies and pays the way for emergency workers to be transported to crisis locations, it’s always the helping hand, the hug, the kind word, the physical and emotional interaction of one person with another that makes the real impact and has the lasting effect.
I have always thought that one of the real tragedies of 9/11 (following the loss of life) was the missed opportunity by President George Bush to ask each of us to step up and volunteer time in helping one another as a way of life and to personally alter our lifestyles to reduce our dependence upon foreign oil. He would have hit a home run with that one, and by so doing, caused us to make a significant and positive impact upon the quality of life in this country.
My father was a very charitable man. He literally never saw or heard of suffering (human or animal) that he did not reach into his wallet and make a contribution. It’s a great legacy and one of which I am proud. But as each new generation sees things differently, and hopefully for the better, I have come to the conclusion that it’s the one-on-one acts of love that make the real difference.
Personally, I have come up short in this regard. Always ready to provide a kind, encouraging or inspirational word to friends and others who cross my path, I have been remiss in donating real time on an individual basis. That’s why tomorrow I have an interview to volunteer 5-20 hours a month as a child advocate for the court system. As a former practicing attorney, mother, and plain old human being, I’m certain I can be of value. It’s just a start, but I know in my heart that “service” is the answer and so serve I must.
There are as many ways to serve as there are people so just pick one that suits you and get on with it.
Fifteen minutes of fame for taking 8 lives and wounding 5 others is the most fleeting of outcomes and in the end amounts to nothing except, perhaps, a marred Soul. But a sustained personal effort intended to positively impact the lives of others becomes a legacy and gift that will most likely keep on giving long after we are gone.
Now there’s a red carpet I’d like to walk down.
Posted in 
Truth or Consequences
December 5th, 2007
> Today the declassified findings of the National Intelligence Estimate, a study by 16 U.S. governmental agencies, concluded that Iran suspended it’s nuclear weapons program in 2003. Tomorrow, I will be one of thousands of people writing blogs, articles and commentaries on President Bush and his administration (i.e. Dick Cheyney, the Neocons and the Christian Coalition) on what now seems to be either the 1) incompetent or 2) deceitful manner in which the assertion that the program was in full swing has been “marketed” to we the people of the United States.
I suspect that most of the writing will attempt to “hang this President out to dry” for either #1 or #2 above. And while I have neither trust in this President’s assertions nor peace of mind in his competency level, I prefer to focus instead on we the people.
We the People are responsible for the leaders we have.
We the People have allowed ourselves to be distracted.
We the People have failed to vigorously question rationale as well as purpose when questioning was too laborious or difficult.
We the People have failed to educate ourselves on the issues.
We the People have been enabling participants in a web of confusion.<
It is through our inaction and willingness to relinquish our autonomy and our inherent right to be free in exchange for the imprisonment of being cared for and the privilege of not having to make difficult choices that we have earned this President. There are no free rides.
I was raised by a loving but misguided father who believed that because he was the source of financial wellbeing in our family, that empowered him to control other family members behavior and proceed unilaterally in regard to issues and decisions that affected not just him but all of us. And you know what? He was right. I learned that the hard way. When you trade your sovereignty for comfort, convenience and protection…your trading in your Soul as well. And over time, you lose the ability…even the capability…to act wisely in your own behalf simply because you’ve forgotten how to.
I know what I’m talking about because I’ve been there. I also know how hard it is to wrestle back autonomy when you’ve lingered too long at the fairground.
George Bush and his Presidency are a wake-up call.
We the People have been unconscious for a very long time now. We need to awaken to that call for if we do not, there will surely come a time, in the not too distant future, when it will be not just too hard but too late to take back that which is inherently ours as the sparks of Divine Intelligence that we are.
We the People have certain unalienable rights and among those rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
We the People also have certain unalienable duties and among those duties are truth, personal responsibility and courage.
Only when We the People live our unalienable duties will our leaders live theirs.
Shakespeare Had It Half Right
December 3rd, 2007
> As a former lawyer (recovering lawyer as I like to say) I’ve heard my share of lawyer jokes and references to Shakespeare’s famous predisposition to “first kill all the lawyers.” Having known the profession from the “inside out” I understand the basis for such sentiments…although murder seems an extreme remedy. Part of the problem is certainly too many lawyers and too much self-oversight…the chicken guarding the hen house syndrome.
Today, it appears that if Shakespeare could arise and view our current health care situation, he might just suggest killing all the doctors…or at least the excessive number of specialists.
In the December 2007 issue of The Atlantic magazine, Shannon Brownlee writes that “over the next eight years medical schools will be aiming to increase enrollment by 30%” yet what they are producing is more and more specialists and fewer and fewer primary care physicians. In fact, “between 1997 and 2005 the number of U.S. medical school graduates entering family-practice residencies fell by 50%.”
In practical terms more doctors means worse care, a fact Brownlee documents. Why? Because, according to the author, 1) more and duplicative tests and procedures entail more risk and, 2) multiple specialists for a single patient multiplies the potential for miscommunication and confusion. Duplicate tests, drugs that interact poorly with existing medications, and the assumption that one of the other physicians will attend to a critical aspect of the patient’s care are all undesirable and dangerous outcomes of this highly specialized approach. Brownlee poses some possible solutions, one of which is to simply “turn the spigot off” and stop soliciting and graduating more doctors.
Then there is the more spiritually-based “personal responsibility” solution.
Let’s put our energies into wellness instead of sickness.
It all begins with each of us and how we choose to live our lives. No matter which way you cut it, you cannot eat preservative-infused, high sodium, high fat fast food (or even slow food) and expect to remain healthy. You cannot create a life that is so stress-laden in the quest to acquire more and more “things” and expect to remain healthy. You cannot use and abuse and pollute the Earth with total disregard for the real impact of such behavior and expect to live in a nourishing environment.
A refusal to see the connection between how we live and how healthy we live is the source of our dis-ease. After all, it’s called dis-ease. If I or anyone else has to explain the component parts of that word to you then the challenge is bigger than I anticipate.
Generally we go to doctor after-the-fact…meaning that we’ve ignored the warning signs (overt and covert) and have pushed our psyches, our bodies and, yes, our Souls past the break point. As the pace of life escalates exponentially with the runaway technological boom, perhaps it make perfect sense that we need more doctors…or so we’re led to believe.
I think not.
More dis-ease and more ill-ness ought to be indicators that WE are somehow out of alignment with Nature and all things life affirming. It is up to each of us to turn inward and examine the quality of our thoughts, our actions, and the life we choose to live.
Government hasn’t solved much. Lawyers even less. And now the doctors aren’t all that much help either, it turns out. Seems to me we are inclined to look anywhere other than where help is readily available.
In case you somehow missed where that is, it’s in your hands.
I guess that’s why they say, “Physician, heal thyself.”